1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to an image forming apparatus, a display control method, and a recording medium, and more particularly to an image processing apparatus and a display control method capable of displaying resources having been searched for in a network, and a recording medium storing a program of the display control method.
2. Description of the Related Art
Conventionally and continually, a search for a predetermined resource (e.g., a device) in a network has been conducted by using a broadcast address, multicast addresses or the like (see, for example, Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2006-340286). Namely, a searching unit (that searches for a target to be searched for such as an information processing apparatus) transmits predetermined packet data to the devices specified by the broadcast address, the multicast addresses or the like. In this case, it is assumed that the target to be searched for is capable of detecting (recognizing) the predetermined packet data. As a response to the broadcast address, the multicast addresses or the like, the target to be searched for transmits a response to the searching unit. By detecting the response transmitted from the target to be searched for, the searching unit may detect (recognize) the existence of the target to be searched for in the network.
However, when there are plural targets to be searched for (hereinafter may be simplified as “target(s)”) in the network, the received timings of the responses from the plural targets at the searching unit may vary depending on the network conditions, distances in the network between the searching unit and the targets and the like. Namely, for example, in a case where there are two targets A and B in the network, the response time from the target A may be different from that from the target B.
Because of the differences, in a case where the targets are to be displayed within a list screen, whenever a response from the target is received, the list screen may have to be updated (changed) by adding a display element representing the target. As a result, the contents displayed on the list screen may be sequentially (frequently) updated, which may make it difficult for a user to operate the list screen.
To solve the problem, there may be an idea that after the responses from all the targets are received, the screen is then displayed. However, it is fundamentally difficult to determine when the responses from all the targets are received. This is because, in the first place, the searching unit does not exactly know all of the targets to be searched for before searching for the targets.